Support Mack at Division Contest

Division A's contest is Saturday April 24th. Mack Mercer will represent our club and our Area in the International Speech Contest, so let's show up in force and give him the support he deserves! It's at Motorola, 5555 N Beach St at 9:30 am. You must be 18 and show ID to get in, and an RSVP is requested because of security issues. Email your RSVP to johnbergs@d25toastmasters.org or jacquelynegriffin@d25toastmasters.org.

Tammy Bailey

It's Youth Leadership time again!

Our next Youth Leadership will start on Thursday night, April 22nd and will meet every Thursday evening from 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm for 7 weeks. This course is for children ages 8 through 17. If you know someone who would like to attend, please let me know so I can get them registered. Also, if you would like to participate and assist Youth Leadership Coordinator George Arndt, please let either George or me know that you would like to help.

Pat Quick

Mar 30: Twenty-Four Years and Counting

Celebrating our 24-year history, we kicked off our meeting with a prayer and a feast. It must be a requirement that you be a great cook to be an Afterburner because every dish tasted delicious! We had an incredible array of food that was coordinated by Brenda Daniels. Everyone participated and we enjoyed scrumptious treats such as Chicken Spaghetti, Chicken in Cream Sauce, BBQ Smokies, 7 Layer Dip, Fried Chicken, Taco Soup, Grilled Chicken Salad, various desserts and much more.

Peichang Shi started our prepared speeches off by giving us a great speech that was filled with lots of humor. He taught us a little about the NCAA brackets and revealed that he and his wife, Joanna had a friendly wager going to see who could predict the winner. Perhaps it would be better said that the bet was that Peichang couldn’t predict the winner! I wonder which one of them ended up cooking dinner for the month?

Brenda Daniels was our second speaker and gave us a wonderful history of her Icebreaker speeches. Brenda has been in Toastmasters for over 20 years and has presented several Icebreakers. Although there have been several different Icebreaking speeches in her time with Toastmasters, they have all had one common thread. They were all inspired by Country and Western music. We have to be worried if a C&W singer writes a song about stumping their toe because it could be the start of Brenda’s next speech.

Our last speaker, George Arndt spoke to us about “Anniversaries” and reminded us that we celebrate all types of anniversaries; most are fun and happy events while others can be heartbreaking. George left us with thought-provoking ideas that we can think about until our next anniversary.

Next year will be our 25th anniversary and plans are already underway for a large Open House to celebrate 25 years of our club’s success.

Pat Quick

Two Contestants, Two Winners

Also in the photos: David Martin, Lt. Governor Education and Training, Greg Fox, Area 61 Governor and Jacquelyne Griffin, Division F Governor

Our very own Tammy Bailey did an awesome job as she led the Area 61 contest as the Toastmaster. Several members of Afterburners were present to support our two contestants, including Steven Thorn who came all the way from Oklahoma and Theresa Eller’s husband Scott. Tom Brents was the club’s Tall Tales Speech contest winner but was unable to compete due to a family emergency. Hunter Allen filled in at the last minute to represent our club in that category and did an amazing job. “Woo Hoo” was his battle cry and from now on Hunter will be known as the”Dragon Hunter.” He told about his journey to defeat a fierce dragon and what happened when he came face-to-face with the mighty beast. Hunter was the clear winner and took home the first place trophy.

Mack stood his ground as he competed in the International Speech contest and came away victorious. He grabbed his audience as he presented his speech “Small Things with Great Love.” We are proud of both Hunter and Mack and will be looking to support them at the Division F contest on Saturday, April 24th.

Pat Quick

Food, Fun, Tall Tales and Great Love

You know when you come to an Afterburners club contest you will be well fed and entertained. This event was no exception. We had our normal spread of great food and a line-up of talented speakers.

Winning the Tall Tales Contest was Tom Brents. Tom told us a big tale titled “A Dangerous Bit of Shade,” about when he was training for the Olympics and leaned up against the wrong tree to get a little rest. He told us how he was taken hostage and held inside a huge mansion. He was interrogated by a couple of mean characters and feared for his life. Eventually he gathered his strength and used his keen senses and skills to escape and finally elude his captors. The twist in the story was that this mansion was located in Tom’s neighborhood and was the reason why many neighbors had gone missing. I don’t know about you, but I am going to think twice about attending another one of Tom’s Christmas parties! You never know if those neighbors are still around.

Next was the International Speech Contest which was won by Mack Mercer. Mack inspired us with “Small Things with Great Love.” He told us about how his mother and father took 5 cousins into their family after a horrible tragedy. Adding the 5 cousins, Mack’s two siblings and Mack made a total kid count of eight and with only one bathroom! We remember Mack singing a little song “2, 4, 6, 8 now the bathroom’s a longer wait.” My favorite part of Mack’s speech was about his brother Richard who used to sleepwalk right off the top bunk bed. Richard dreamed he was diving into a pool filled with water but instead dove onto the hard terrazzo tile floor. This talent served Richard well in life because later he was hired at Euro Disney to dive off stagecoaches while performing in the Wild West shows. Richard continues to entertain audiences at Disney and has been there for 17 years. Mack’s story reminded us that we may not be able to accomplish big things, but we can accomplish small things with great love.

Congratulations Tom and Mack! Both will represent Afterburners in the Area Contest on Saturday, March 20th.


Pat Quick

April 6: What did you miss tonight? FREE ICE CREAM!

Congratulations to Benson V, Nick Colón and DeWayne Ivey on their induction tonight into Afterburners, and special congratulations to Nick for giving his Ice Breaker and winning Best Speaker!

If you weren't at the meeting tonight, please know that we missed you very much. The club really isn't the same without you. Mentors, be sure to reach out to your fellow club members and let them know how much they add to (and get from) the meeting when they are in attendance.

The schedule for the next 4 weeks has been posted on the web site. As always, if you have a scheduling conflict, give the Toastmaster for that meeting as much advance notice as possible, and let me know so I can get you on the agenda for a different date.

Tammy Bailey, DTM

VP Education